Abstract
Objective
Parent–adolescent relationships go through changes during adolescence but also have properties that remain stable.
Background
The unit of analysis (between person vs. within person) can significantly impact the conclusions drawn from research investigating characteristics of parent–adolescent relationships.
Methods
The current study utilized data from the Longitudinal Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN; Runyan et al., 1998) to examine the parent–adolescent relationship throughout adolescence at 12, 14, and 16 years in a sample of 478 parent–adolescent dyads. We used a cross-lagged actor–partner interdependence model and a random intercept cross-lagged actor–partner interdependence model to compare how results change when examining between-person versus within-person associations.
Results
We found strong, positive actor effects for both mothers and adolescents as well as significant partner effects in the cross-lagged actor–partner interdependence model. Within the random intercept cross-lagged actor–partner interdependence model, the partner effects disappeared and there were only within-person effects in adolescents.
Conclusion
Results of the current study highlight the importance of considering the unit of analysis in studying relational dynamics.
Implications
Researchers are recommended to carefully consider whether the unit of analysis matches between theory and statistical analysis in their studies.